Hanging Application

[DonP]

For some reason, WinNT\system32\msdtc.exe has been taking up almost 100% of the CPU and the only way to get booted up was to load into Save Mode and rename the file! It seems to have started all of a sudden. Any clues what could have happened with this little info? Maybe knowing what the program is used for might help. . . Don
don@pc-homepage.com

http://www.pc-homepage.com/

Experienced in HTML, Perl, VBScript, PWS, IIS and Apache. Run OS/2 Warp 4, BeOS v5 and Windows NT/2000 (only when I have to!)

 

[gbiello]

Is this in a cluster (see Q243204)?

Are there any references to it in the registry that seems suspect? I'm thinking specifically something in the "Run" key.

 

[DonP]

No, as far as I can tell there is nothing out of the ordinary but then I'm not sure what entries it should properly have:

[tt]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Services/ImagePath
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet002/Services/ImagePath
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/ImagePath[/tt]

are the ones I see, each having a value pointing to the executable. I read that on NT systems, there is a memory leak in this program but I saw nothing about that for Windows2000 so I presume it's been fixed.

When I set the msdtc.exe service to start manually, then try to start it, it remains with a status of "starting" and never actually starts. After postng, I also realized that none of my local Web sites in development on the system will load either (I use Apache, not IIS).

Does any of this help? Don
don@pc-homepage.com

http://www.pc-homepage.com/

Experienced in HTML, Perl, VBScript, PWS, IIS and Apache. Run OS/2 Warp 4, BeOS v5 and Windows NT/2000 (only when I have to!)

 

[gbiello]

What service pack is it at? SP3 fixes a msdtc related problem. See Q324941.

Also, check your "Remote Procedure Call" and "Security Accounts Manager" services and make sure they start. Msdtc is dependant on them.

Anything in the event log?

 

[DonP]

Thanks for your help. Yes, it's SP3 with the addition of some of the other MS hotfixes but as of late last night, I believe I found the problem. At one point the system had McAfee antiviris v7.0 installed and then removed again. Even going through the registers manually to remove all traces of "McAfee," I failed to also search on "virus" and "Network Associates." As soon as these were also removed and the "Network Associates" Common folder deleted, the system began to function normally! The clue was found by accident when I clicked on an unrelated program and McAcee's setup began in spite of its CD-ROM not being in the drive and the program itself gone from the system. It was apparently grabbing one of the programs in the Common folder after being triggered to do so by the lingering registry entries so apparently the msdtc.exe was doing the same thing but since it doesn't have a user interface, it couldn't be seen that that's what was happening. Don
don@pc-homepage.com

http://www.pc-homepage.com/

Experienced in HTML, Perl, VBScript, PWS, IIS and Apache. Run OS/2 Warp 4, BeOS v5 and Windows NT/2000 (only when I have to!)

 

[kloner]

I have just had the same problem today! WinNT\system32\msdtc.exe was hanging, using all my CPU. I installed McAfee 7.0 yesterday and thought it would be the cause of the problem. I acually booted up into safe mode, and manually stopped the service from continuing. Have now uninstalled McAfee and will choose a more friendly anti virus package. Currently removing associations from registry as well. Thanks Don!

kloner